Hyderabad: New Gopichand academy to unearth more talent

The world-class training centre in the city will provide another platform for the budding talent

Hyderabad: Adding to the existing facilities in the city of Hyderabad, the game of badminton got another big boost on Saturday when the Kotak Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy was inaugurated in Gachibowli.

The world-class training centre in the city will provide another platform for the budding talent. The facility will have a high-performance training centre with six air-conditioned badminton courts, sports science centre with nutritionists, physiotherapists and strength and conditioning coaches. adding to that, it will have top-quality training and coaching facilities, fellowship programmes for economically backward coaches and players, coach certification programmes.

---

Speaking on the launch, national chief coach Pullela Gopichand said that the game in the country has come a long way. He termed Prakash Padukone winning the All England title in 1980 as the first major milestone. “I remember the days when no Indian had reached the quarterfinal of All England for 16 years after that. Slowly things started looking good in the late 90s. Then the lack of facilities was clearly felt. So, when I started coaching at Gachibowli in 2004 and within two years Saina (Nehwal) made the first impact with her exploits on the international circuit. Her bronze in the 2012 London Olympics was historic for sure,” he added.

“Definitely, 2016 and 2017 were truly special for Indian b badminton with Sindhu winning the Olympics silver and Srikanth becoming the World No.1 and soon others like Sai Praneeth (World championship men’s singles bronze medallist), Prannoy, Kashyap also doing well,” Gopi added.

Director of Kotak Mahindra Bank Shanti Ekambaram said it would be a permanent partnership in promoting sports going far beyond Gopi also. “We share a common vision with Gopi in nurturing young talent and developing sports infrastructure,” she said.